


Towards Justice

by Theostry



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Double Drabble, Episode AU: s11e03 Rosa, Episode: s11e03 Rosa, Gen, Period-Typical Racism, Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 08:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16384601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theostry/pseuds/Theostry
Summary: Graham can't resist taking his pool-table conversation with 'Blake the Snake' in a slightly different direction.





	Towards Justice

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little...conversational divergence that occurred to me as I watched the phenomenal S11E03 'Rosa'. The first part, in italics, is dialogue taken directly from the episode.

 

_**“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”** _

— Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

***

 

_“So you say you’re a bus driver too, back in England?” James Blake, Montgomery bus driver, asked his new pool table companion._

_“It’s a privilege, innit?” Graham replied, grinning. “Gettin’ people where they want to go, being part of the community.”_

_Blake seemed nonplussed. “I’m figurin' you ain’t gotta deal with keeping Coloureds apart from Whites.” He was watching the other man curiously, clutching his cue upright like a spear._

_Graham paused briefly before taking his shot. “N—No,” he said carefully. “We don’t do that”. He gave his head a little shake, eyes flicking up to his opponent’s with a wry smile. “You approve o’ that, Jim?”_

_“Just the way it is.” Blake’s lips twisted in something more grimace than smile. “No matter how much they complain. Ain’t gon’ change.”_

Graham sighed, mirroring his expression — though for very different reasons. “Look at it this way. Two hundred years ago, in my country, we had 'em as slaves.” He lined up again. “But now—”

“Two hundred years?” Blake snorted derisively. “Bit less than that, ‘round here.”

Graham took the shot, then looked up, eyebrow raised, and gestured with his cue.

“Exactly.”

Blake’s perplexed gaze followed the ball into the pocket.

 

***

_**"They don't win, those people…in fifty-three years they’ll have a Black president as leader. Who knows where they’ll be fifty years after that?"** _

— Yazmin Khan

 

**Author's Note:**

> 200 words, excluding the two quotes — the first of which happens to be one of my favourite of all time, on the days I can get myself to believe it.


End file.
